Tippett finally retires, but Swans blocked on father-son

On Wednesday afternoon, 620 days after his last AFL game, Sydney forward Kurt Tippett quietly retired from football – and thus created an opening for the Swans to add a player in the mid-season draft.

However, the Swans have been told by the AFL that they will not have priority access to father-son player Kyle Dunkley in that draft.

Kurt Tippett has officially retired.Credit:AAP

The Swans recently sought clarification from the AFL on the mid-season draft rules for father-son talent.

They were told they had no priority access to Dunkley, who would be treated like all other players. Mature-aged players who committed to northern academies or were part of next generation academies are ineligible for the mid-season draft, but no such rule applies to father-son players.

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Dunkley, a big bodied midfielder, is playing as a top-age 19-year-old for Gippsland Power in the NAB League (formerly TAC Cup), where he has had a better season than last year and has attracted some attention from recruiters. He was among the list of 22 players nominated for the mid-season draft who will undergo AFL medical testing.

The Swans had access to Dunkley, who is the son of former player Andrew and the brother of Western Bulldogs players Josh, in last year’s national draft but did not take him. He has since improved and is now among a group of players the Swans are keenly considering in the draft.

They will again have priority access to him in the national draft at the end of the year if he is still available, but in the mid-season draft there is no bidding system and so no priority access for clubs to father-son players.

Presently that is academic, as the Swans sit on the bottom of the ladder and therefore would have first pick in the mid-season draft and be able to take Dunkley if they wanted him. The draft is held on May 27, after round 10 with the Swans playing Essendon, North Melbourne and Collingwood in that time.

The retirement of Tippett finally unshackles the Swans, who have been restricted by having to keep his money in the salary cap and his position on the playing list despite him not playing a game.

Tippett’s last game was in round 23 of 2017, when on August 26 the Swans beat Carlton.

In January last year, with three years to run on a newly signed contract extension, Tippett announced his retirement from football due to fitness concerns after having had an ankle reconstruction months earlier.

The Swans and Tippett were understood to have reached a settlement in broad terms at the time – for an undisclosed, seven-figure sum.

Had Tippett’s retirement been processed at that time, the settlement payout would have had to be included in last year’s salary cap, a move that would have pushed the Swans over the salary cap limit.

Contracted until the end of the 2020 season, he was delisted at the end of last year then re-selected in the rookie draft in a move that enabled the Swans to excise some of his money from the salary cap this year.

Finally then this week after clarification of some terms and final payments, Tippett's retirement agreement was lodged and approved by the AFL.